Fire-escape



(No Model.)

J. E. nimh/Lm.V

PIRE ESCAPE. Y

Patentedlf'eb. 25,1890.

'UNITED STATES `PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH E. HARMAN, OF ROCHESTER, NEV YORK.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 422,345, dated February25, 1890.

vApplication filed December 4, 1889. Serial No. 332,489. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern; Y

Be it known that I, J osnPH E. HARMAN, of the city of Rochester, countyof Monroe, and State of New York, have in vented certain new and usefulImprovements in Fire-Escapes; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, andto letters of reference marked thereon.

My present invention relates to that class of lire-escapes in the use ofwhich the operator slides down a suitable rope or cable suspended fromthe upper portion of a building from which it is desired to escape, thespeed of his descent being regulated by a suitable brake acting upon therope or support and controlled by himself; and it has for its object toso improve their construction that they can readily be attached to ordetached from any suitable rope or cable Without the necessity ofthreading it through a perfora tion or opening, thus enabling any numberof persons to use the same rope or cable without requiring the return ofany portion to the point from which the escape is to be made; and tothis end it consists in certain novelties of construction andcombinations of parts, all as will be hereinafterdescribed, and thenovel features pointed out in the claims at the end of thisspecification.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of my invention; Fig. 2,a view of the hook or traveler with the brake removed, and

Fig. 3 a view showing the manner of usingthe device.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures denote similarparts.

In devices of this description heretofore employed it has been customaryto provide some form of traveler, to which the operator attaches himselfby his hands or otherwise, permanently applied to the rope or cable andincapable of removal therefrom except at the ends; but these devices areobjectionable in that .if more than one person is to use the escape thetraveler must be returned to irst position, which necessitates theemployment of additional ropes or cables, liable to become fouled orcaught in the hurry and excitement attending a fire.

As illustrated, the invention consists, broadly stated, in providing anopen-sided hook A, preferably with a spring-latch a u thereon,constituting a snaphook having an eye Bin the lower portion, to which isattached a loop C C of rope or similar material for attachment to thebody of the user. The loop or belt C is preferably formed of a singlepiece of rope, witha loop in one end, secured to the eye B of thesnap-hook, then doubled, and to the end of this loop is attached asnap-hook D, adapted to be engaged with a ring B near the hook A. Itwill be noted that one of the portions C of the loop is shorter than theother,.and that when applied around the middle of the operator theweight of his body will rest in a measure upon loop C, while loop C willsupport his back, as shown in Fig. 3, thus making a comfortable seat forhim. v

The hook A is adapted to be caught over a suitable rope or cable E, Fig.3, suspended from above the window and either held at an angle bypersons below or allowed to hang straight, preferably the former, whilethe operator swings clear of the building and allows himself to descendto the ground by gravity, the loops C C supporting him if the rope beheld at an angle, as shown, and as soon as he is clear of the upper endanother person having one of the loops and attached hooks can hook overthe rope and descend in like manner, as many as desired making theirescape in this way, and as soon after one another as the hooks can beapplied, because each preceding one is out of the way of the next almostas soon as he has swung himself clear. i

It is of course desirable that some braking device be provided forregulating the users descent, and this should also be of such nature asto be readily applied to the cable and located relative to thesupporting-hook, so as not to be liable to get out of position when thehook is applied, and the preferable form of this consists in anopen-sided Vcollapsible piece 0r pieces of iiexible material,constructed, in the present instance, of canvas and rubber fabric-suchas hose is made ofattached to the sides of the hook by rivets d passingthrough it and suitable lugs or ears c formed upon opposite sides of thehook, as

IOO

shown, one piece D being located on each side of the hook, so as to forma better grip for the users hands when suspended from the loop C C. Bysqueezing these brakepieces on the rope or cable E the speed of descentcan be regulated as desired, and as they are located on opposite sidesof the hook also serve as handles by which the user can steady himselfand prevent swinging.

W'hile it is eminently desirable that a snaphook embodying aspring-latch be employed, as it prevents all liability of becomingdetached from cable E during descent, it is obvious that this could bedispensed with without departing from my invention. It is also obviousthat instead of forming the suspending-loops C C of a single piece ofrope two separate pieces of rope or canvas could be employed, thesnap-hook serving to secure them around the users body, as before.

From the above and the accompanying drawings the manner of using thedevice will be apparent, and its simplicity and cheapness will recommendit, also the fact that any number of persons can use the same cable uponwhich to descend, not requiring experience or instruction as to themanner of using. 1

In practice it is proposed to have ropes or cables E fastened to theinside of the win- 1 dows of factories, hotels, or other places where anumber of persons are capable of being thrown out and extending to theground, and a number of escapes constructed in accordance with myinvention kept in proximity thereto to be used only in case of anemergency.

I claim as my inventionl. In a lire-escape to be used upon a suspendedrope or cable, the combination, with a 4o .A loop or belt arranged to beapplied to the person of the user, of an open-sided suspendinghookattached thereto for engaging the rope and an open-sided brake foroperating on the rope when in the hook independently of the latter,substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the hook adapted to be applied to the rope orcable from one side and a loop or belt arranged to be applied to theperson of the user secured thereto, of 5o an open-sided collapsiblebrake secured to the hook, and operating on the rope when in the latter,but independent of it', substantially as described. p

3. The combination, with the snap-hook 55 and the loop or belt arrangedto be applied to the person of the user, of the open-sided collapsiblebrake secured to the hook, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with the hook and the loop or belt arranged to beapplied to the person of the operator, of the open-sided pieces ofcollapsible material, secured on opposite* sides of the hook,substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the suspending- V" hook, of the two loops C Cand the hook attached to their ends for securing them simul- 5'taneously around the person of the user, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the suspendinghook, of the two loops C C andthe snaphook attached to their ends, and the ring B, with which saidhook co-operates, substanstantially as described.

JOSEPH E. HARMAN.

Witnesses:

FRED F. CHURCH, WINFRED J. SMITH.

